WikiLeaks Articles

Wikileaks have released a new batch of classified documents, this time from the CIA. Per the documents, the CIA have a section like the NSA, but with less accountability and oversight.

The CIA’s Tools and Wikileak’s Vault 7

The new series of leaks is titled “Vault 7”, and the first load of documents released called “Year Zero”. The documents focus on a section in the CIA called the Center for Cyber Intelligence. The unit was tasked with creating and using an arsenal of hacking tools (Malware, viruses, Trojans, weaponized ‘zero day’ exploits) to perform a range of subversive and covert operations.

Once again, cables leaked by Edward Snowden have shown the activities of the US’s NSA and the UK’s GCHQ . This time, they have revealed that the agency was both monitoring and putting covert pressure tactics on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the staff of Wikileaks and their supporters in an attempt to destabilize the whistleblowing site.

The report was part of a wider published memo about online data threats, including not only Wikileaks, but also those who hack and attack under the banner of Anonymous, and file sharing websites, most notably the controversial and ever-living Pirate Bay.

Many people heard of Bradley E. Manning, a United States Army Soldier, who was arrested back in May of 2010 for passing classified military information to Wikileaks. He had a total of 22 charges laid against him because he released information that he had downloaded from SIPRNet (Secret Internet Protocol Router Network). This information was on a variety of sensitive topics such as Afghan war documents, Iraq War documents, Reykjavik13, and even a video now known as the Collateral Murder video. All in all over 251,287 U.S state department cables were filtered through Assange to Wikileaks.

After leaking the massive amount of information Bradley E. Manning was subsequently discharged and then detained – now awaiting trial for over 22 different charges but the United States government doesn’t stop there. On top of prosecuting Manning, they are also going after several WikiLeaks backers who had helped Manning.

Governments tracking your phone, tapping in and listening to your every call, and even being able to read your messages is something that many people believe impossible and ‘crazy talk’. Governments wouldn’t do that, would they? And if they did how could a secret so huge be covered up? Why wouldn’t anyone hear about it? How could it happen?

The disbelief about global surveillance and government’s tracking phones and using them to essentially spy on civilians used to be a myth, however Julian Assange provided citizens with hundreds of official papers disproving that belief.

Julian Assange is the founder of the popular whistleblowing organization known as Wikileaks and he revealed this shocking leak on December 1, 2011. According to the leak provided to Assange, 150 private sector organizations in over 25 different countries have the power to not only track phones and other mobile devices, but also to listen to calls and much more.

Birgitta Jonsdottir, the former MP from Iceland has made her intentions clear about taking her case against the U.S. Dept of Justice before the Council of Europe. She was forced to open her Twitter account for them, and she strongly feels that they had illegally managed to hack her.

Birgitta Jonsdottir used to work with WikiLeaks as a volunteer. The U.S judge, Liam O’Grady ruled out her cry for privacy protection, and ordered her to open her account to the U.S. Dept of justice. She was kept under scrutiny for a long time, ever since WikiLeaks published the video where two Reuters reporters were shot dead by a U.S. military helicopter in Iraq. She also feels that she has been used for the purpose of building a strong case against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder.

A group of hackers, known as LulzSec, is now planning to attack the electronics giant Sony. The same group took responsibility on the attacks made to PBS just recently.

The group started by hacking Sony’sTwitter account and posting messages that reveal they are planning to attack them directly. They have named the hacking operation as Sownage, which according to them is short for Sony Ownage. They threatened Sony stating that the first attack was only the beginning of the end of them, and that the real attack had already begun without the company’s knowledge.

Messages such as this: “Hey @Sony, you know we’re making off with a bunch of your internal stuff right now and you haven’t even noticed? Slow and steady, guys.” – were tweeted by the group hacking Sony’s Twitter account.